y REPORT. OFFICE OF STATE BOARD OF ASSESSORS, TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, January 7th, 1885. To the Legislature of New Jersey : } The State Board of Assessors, appointed under the act entitled "An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property," approved April 10th, 1884, respectfully present this their first annual report. The duties of the Board under that law having been enlarged by the passage of the further act entitled "An act to provide for the imposition of State taxes upon certain corporations, and for the collection thereof," it was found upon examination that the element of time required the earliest attention of the Board to the duties assigned them by this act in order to meet its requirements. The period fixed by this act for the returns to be made by miscellaneous corporations to the Board, expired on the day the Board came into legal existence, to wit: The act of April 10th provided for the organization of the Board on the first Tuesday in May, and the act of April 18th required the prescribed reports from miscellaneous corporations to be made to the Board on or before the first Tuesday in May, which, as will be seen, was before such corporations could have from the Board any proper notice of the requirements of the law. Beside, the law provided that the tax on this class of corporations should be returned to the Comptroller on or before the first Monday in June. Time seemed so important an element in the case as to require some prompt and authoritative method of giving notice to the corporations. The members of the Board called on his Excellency the Governor in advance of the time when their legal existence began, and explaining to him the embarrassment under which they labored, he very wisely determined to issue at once his proclamation calling the attention of all corporations to the provisions of the two laws, and also calling the attention of the local assessors of the several taxing districts to their duties under the act of April 10th. The proclamation, as follows, was published in the leading papers throughout the State, and was serviceable in giving the earliest public notice possible to the people of the State of the requirements of the two laws. 66 PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. "STATE OF NEW JERSEY, "Under the provisions of an act entitled 'An act to provide for the imposition of a State tax upon certain corporations, and for the collection thereof,' approved April eighteenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, it was provided that— "2. And be it enacted, That on or before the first Tuesday of May next, and annually thereafter, it shall be the duty of the President, Treasurer or other proper officer of every corporation of the character specified in the preceding section, to make report to the State Board of Assessors, appointed and to be appointed under the act entitled 'An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property," stating specifically the following particulars, namely: Each telegraph, telephone, cable and express company, not owned by a railroad company and otherwise taxed, shall state the gross amount of its receipts from business done in this State for the year preceding the first day of January, prior to the making of such report; each electric light company shall state the gross amount of its receipts for light or power supplied within this State for the year preceding the first day of February, prior to the making of such report; each gas company shall state the gross amount of its receipts for business done in this State during the same time, and the amount of dividends earned or declared for the same period; each parlor, palace or sleeping car company shall state the gross amount of its receipts for fare or tolls for transportation of passengers within this State during the same time; each oil or pipe line company engaged in the transportation of oil or crude petroleum shall state the gross amount of its receipts from the transportation of oil or petroleum through its pipes or in and by its tanks or cars in this State during the same time; each fire, marine, live stock or accident insurance company shall state the total amounts of premiums received by it for insurance upon the lives of persons, resident or property located within this State during the same time. "3. And be it enacted, That if any officer of any company required by this act to make a return as aforesaid, shall, in such return, make a false statement, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury; if any such company shall neglect or refuse to make such return within the time limited as aforesaid, the State Board of Assessors shall ascertain and fix the amount of such receipts in such manner as may be deemed by them most practicable, and the amount fixed by them shall stand as the basis of taxation of such company under this act. "4. And be it enacted, * * * that all other corporations incorporated under the laws of this State, and not herein before provided for, shall pay a yearly license fee or tax of one-tenth of one per centum on the amount of the capital stock of such corporations; provided, that this act shall not apply to railway, canal or banking corporations, or to savings banks, cemeteries or religious corporations, or purely charitable or educational associations, or manufacturing companies or mining companies carrying on business in this State.' "Under the terms of an act entitled 'An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property,' approved April 10th, 1884, I have appointed, with the advice and consent of the Senate, Edward Bettle, Abraham M. Reynolds, Alexander G. Cattell and Allan L. McDermott, a State Board of Assessors, whose duty it will be to execute the provisions of both of the above entitled acts. "The returns required to be made by the railroad and canal companies, under the act of April 10th, 1884, are required to be made on or before the first day of July next, under section twenty-one of said act. "The State Board of Assessors will organize on the fifth day of May, 1884, at the State House, in the city of Trenton. All returns to be made to them should be addressed to The State Board of Assessors, State House, Trenton, N. J.' "The Assessors in each taxing district in the State are hereby required to send their name and post office addresses, and, also, the name and post office address of the city clerk or township clerk, and to return to the said Board, on or before the first Tuesday of May, a list of all the corporations of every kind within their taxing districts. "The corporations to be taxed and the Assessors in each taxing district will be furnished with copies of the above entitled laws upon application to the State Comptroller. "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed, at Trenton, [L. S.] this twenty-third day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and eighty-four. "By the Governor : HENRY C. KELSEY, "LEON ABBETT.* The several members of the Board, having taken the official oath required by the statute, met at Trenton, on the first Tuesday in May, as provided by the act, and organized by the appointment of Edward Bettle, as President, and A. M. Reynolds, as Secretary pro tem., and proceeded to the performance of the work assigned them. Shortly thereafter, John T. VanCleef, of Somerset, was elected Permanent Secretary. MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS. It will be readily understood that in carrying into effect for the first time the provisions of an entirely new law, with radical changes in the method of taxation of many corporations, and the bringing in anew of a large number of others that had hitherto not been taxed at all, a vast amount of detail work became absolutely necessary. For instance, the simple fact of ascertaining the legal title of every existing corporation, with its location, its character, and the address of its principal officer, was beset with difficulties. The act concerning corporations requires that the certificate of organization of every corporation "shall be proved or acknowledged and recorded as required of deeds of real estate, in a book to be kept for that purpose in the office of the clerk of the county where the principal office or place of business of such company, in this State, shall be established, and after being so recorded, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State." But a very large number of the corporations of the State have only filed their certificates in the county clerk's office for record, and have never complied with the further provision that "after being so recorded, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State." The Board would respectfully suggest the passage of a law like that existing in the State of Pennsylvania, which provides that no company organized under the laws of that State shall go into operation until the certificate is filed in the State Department, and attaching a penalty for neglect or refusal to comply with this provision. After exhausting the records in the office of the Secretary of State as to existing corporations, the Board addressed a letter to each of the county clerks, requesting a list of all corporations having certificates recorded in their respective offices, and obtained the desired information. By adopting some other methods of discovery to those already mentioned, it was found that the completed list comprised the names of more than three thousand corporations, in endless variety as to |